2013 Public Payrolls: Attractive wages help Las Cruces' quest as 'employer of choice'

By Steve Ramirez / sramirez@lcsun-news.com

Posted:
04/19/2013 02:23:23 PM MDT

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The City of Las Cruces top 10 salary earners have a combined payroll of over $1.2 million, with City Manager Robert Garza bringing in the top salary of $166,260 annually. In comparison, Mayor Ken Miyagishima earns $73,892 annually.

Editor's note: The Sun-News once again presents its series examining the salaries of those working for local governments to see how much growth there has been in public payrolls in the past year. We continue today with the city of Las Cruces and municipal governments in Mesilla, Hatch, Sunland Park and Anthony. All stories will be accompanied by a comprehensive online database.

Coming Up:

April 28: Las Cruces Public Schools

May 5: Law enforcement agencies

May 12: Doña Ana County government

LAS CRUCES - All 1,466 city of Las Cruces employees got a raise this year.

In the city's proposed 2014 budget, now being considered by the City Council, there are plans to give another raise when the new fiscal year begins July 1.

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More than 1,100 city employees who aren't represented by a union - about 80 percent - got an across-the-board 2 percent raise this year. So did the highest paid worker, City Manager Robert Garza.

Pay adjustments and benefits were also provided for all three labor unions - police, fire, and blue-collar city employees - which included both longevity based step increases that had been previously negotiated.

Salaries are typically the single greatest expense for local government agencies. To help taxpayers better understand how their tax dollars are being spent, the Sun-News has, for the past several years, published stories accompanied by a comprehensive database showing the salaries of local public employees.

For the current 2013 fiscal year, which continues through June 30, the total personnel budget is $53.6 million or 65.5 percent of the city's general fund budget, according to a database analysis.

That is $2.2 million more, or 4.3 percent higher, than what was budgeted by the city for the 2012 fiscal year, a year ago.

The total city budget for the current 2013 fiscal year is $300 million.

'Employer of choice'

"One of the major components of the city's strategic plan is to be the employer of choice," Garza said. "Some of the areas of focus, as part of a two-year plan, are to ensure the city is offering competitive wages and attractive benefits plans. Those are just part of a long lists of goals the city hopes to achieve in its attempts to meet that part of the strategic plan to be the employer of choice for those who want to work for the city."

To put that into perspective, all of the city's 1,466 full-time employees earn an hourly wage higher than either the federal or state minimum wage of $7.25 and $7.50, respectively. The average annual salary for a full-time city employee is $43,172. From highest to lowest, salaries range from Garza's $166,260 (a figure that does not include his benefit package) to four city custodians who are each paid $19,906.

"The city has conducted studies that compare what employees in similar communities are earning," Garza said. "Those results are used in determining what the city needs to pay to stay competitive. We've kept pace. We've been trying to take care of our staff."

Las Crucen Joanne Suarez, a part-time Doña Ana Community College student, said she hopes to parlay her studies into a full-time job with the city.
"I've applied for secretary and administrative assistant jobs with the city," Suarez said. "That's what I'm going to the branch (DACC) for, to improve my skills so I can hopefully land one of those jobs. I've been working a lot of minimum wage, dead-end jobs that don't have too many benefits. I've had friends and a lot of people tell me the benefits the city pays are pretty good. I'd like to try to settle down in the next few years and something like this would be pretty good."

Adrian Carranza, a Utilities Department worker, said his job is fulfilling.

"It's fun. Every day is something new, every day is something different," said Carranza, who earns $41,470 a year.

Six-figure workers

As the city's highest paid employee, Garza will earn a base salary of $166,620 this year - almost 4.3 times more than the median household income in Las Cruces, $38,701, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. He is one of 11 city employees whose salary is more than $100,000 a year.
Following Garza, the city's top five wage earners and their base salaries: Brian Denmark, assistant city manager and chief operating officer, $127,000; Mark Winson, assistant city manager and chief administrative officer, $120,800; Jorge Garcia, utilities director, $118,600; and Harry "Pete" Connelly, city attorney, $116,800.

Four directors of city departments, Scott Marr, information technology; Lisa Murphy, transportation; Victoria Frederick, financial services; and David Dollahon, community and cultural services, earn salaries ranging from $99,999 to $90,000. By comparison, Mayor Ken Miyagishima's salary this year is $73,892, and each of the six elected City Council members is being paid $29,556 this year.

Few new hires

Staffing levels for city government have remained constant the past two years, and Garza doesn't expect that will change for the city's upcoming fiscal year.

"We've held steady at 1,466 employees," he said. "If you include the past three years, the city has only increased staff by two positions to get to 1,466. We've held the number of positions down partly because of strains and stresses on revenues. We've shifted employees to cover the needs of services provided to city residents, and we've managed those variables.

"But the city has grown, and as that growth has continued so have the demands on our employees. We've added about 10 percent to the city, in growth, but staff has been static. We've eliminated waste and been more efficient."

Although the New Mexico Legislature adopted a plan to phase out the state's "hold harmless" provision, which has provided the city with state stipends for taxes exempted on the sales of food, prescription medications and some medical services, Garza and other city officials believe the city can continue to maintain city government staffing levels. The elimination of hold harmless won't start until 2015 and will be done incrementally for 15 years after that.

The loss of the hold harmless provision will amount to about $8.5 million a year the city has received in state stipends and that amount is about 11 percent of the city's general fund budget.

"It's good the city will have time to prepare and adapt for this change," Councilor Nathan Small said. "I believe that if the city can continue with the prudent fiscal management it has shown, we will have the ability to mitigate this potential loss. Of course, there's a lot of variables that could factor into what ultimately happens, but the city will have some options it can consider to stimulate revenues, such as potentially increasing gross receipts taxes."

Steve Ramirez can be reached at 575-541-5452. Follow him on Twitter @SteveRamirez6